Viqi Shesh
Viqi Shesh was a female Human politician from the Kuat system who attained galactic infamy due to her collaboration with the invading Yuuzhan Vong species during the Yuuzhan Vong War. Obsessed with power, Shesh rose to prominence as the representative of Kuat in the New Republic Senate. When the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong invaded the New Republic in 25 ABY and inflicted heavy defeats upon the government and the military, Shesh soon decided that her best chances of survival lay with the winning side. Over a two year period, the Kuati senator passed vital information and military intelligence to Yuuzhan Vong spymasters with the intention of encouraging the invaders to spare Kuat and provide her with a position of power in their administration. A skilled politician, Shesh managed to secure herself the position of administrative senator for the Senate Select Committee for Refugees, whereupon she channeled millions of displaced persons to worlds she knew would be targeted by the Yuuzhan Vong, such as the planet Duro. When Warmaster Tsavong Lah, the military leader of the Yuuzhan Vong, came to spearhead the invasion, Shesh maintained personal contact with the fierce warrior, unaware that she was being used and was ultimately intended to be discarded. A vocal opponent of Master Luke Skywalker's New Jedi Order, Shesh aided the warmaster in his vendetta against the Jedi by pushing for their exile from the New Republic and championing the betrayal of the Jedi to the invaders in return for peace. The full extent of the Kuati woman's collaboration with the Yuuzhan Vong went undiscovered and, although the suspicions of her colleague Leia Organa Solo led to Shesh's loss of her seat on the refugee committee, she remained prominent in the Senate, presenting herself as a rival to Bothan Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya. Warmaster Lah later promised Shesh the position of puppet Chief of State with the proviso that she arrange the assassination of Fey'lya. Shesh's attempt failed and she was soon thwarted in her efforts to divide the New Republic Senate by Luke Skywalker, who formed an alliance with Fey'lya and the New Republic military in opposition to her anti-Jedi policies. The Kuati politician was forced to turn to espionage and abduction to prove her worth to Tsavong Lah, becoming increasingly distanced from her life as a high profile senator. Under Lah's orders, Shesh targeted Han and Leia Organa Solo, as well as their nephews Mason and Owen Skywalker. A bungled attack on the Solo residence, however, resulted in the revelation of Shesh's identity as a Yuuzhan Vong spy to the New Republic and the Kuati politician was sent fleeing into Coruscant's underbelly. In a last gamble to appease the Yuuzhan Vong, Shesh attempted to kidnap Ben Skywalker while the warmaster's armada attacked and conquered Coruscant in 27 ABY. Shesh was foiled in her scheme shortly thereafter and was left with little choice but to present herself to the Yuuzhan Vong empty handed. Openly known as a traitor to the New Republic, Shesh was of no further use to Tsavong Lah and was sentenced to execution by the warmaster. Providing the warrior with advice in return for her continued survival, Shesh spent a short time acting as Lah's spymaster, directing Yuuzhan Vong agent Tam Elgrin to spy on a New Republic base on the planet Borleias before being dispatched to the ruined surface of Coruscant to hunt down Jedi alongside a team of Yuuzhan Vong warriors. The former senator spent the last days of her life clinging to survival, alternately pursued by a deranged Dark Jedi or monitored by Yuuzhan Vong warriors assigned to ensure her obedience to Tsavong Lah's directives. Traveling across Coruscant's despoiled cityscape in search for a means of escape, Shesh's chances were further complicated by the arrival of Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker, along with a New Republic insertion team. When she was finally outmaneuvered and confronted by her numerous enemies, Viqi Shesh chose to commit suicide, plummeting to her death in the shadows of Coruscanti buildings that she had helped to topple. Biography Rise to power Viqi Shesh was born around 15 BBY into a wealthy shipbuilding family on the prosperous world of Kuat, a planet famed for its shipyard industries. Shesh's opulent lifestyle ensured that the Human woman became used to the trappings of luxury and her upbringing led her to believe that power was her birthright. The Shesh family, in whose veins ran the blood of Kuati royalty, had strong ties to Kuat Drive Yards. Their heavy involvement with the shipbuilding industry brought tribulation, however, when the head of Kuat Drive Yards, Kuat of Kuat, committed suicide in 4 ABY, destroying 20% of the planet's orbital shipyards in the process.Hard Merchandise During the subsequent reconstruction efforts, Shesh's family lost social and political status and turned to the New Republic, secretly forging ties with the new government, which installed itself on Coruscant that same year. By the time the New Republic wrested Kuat and its shipyards from the Galactic Empire in 8.5 ABY, the Shesh family's secret betrayal of Imperial interests reaped vast dividends. Deluged with offers from eager clients affiliated with the New Republic, the Shesh family became accustomed to contracts worth upwards of a billion credits. The young Viqi Shesh was able to find a job in Kuati corporate marketing and, despite her indifference toward the work, learned much about society and how beings could be manipulated by their fears and hopes. Ultimately, however, Shesh's apathy with her corporate post encouraged her to seek a career in the public sector. She desired power and influence and had the ambition and resources to attain both. In 19 ABY, Shesh began a political campaign to become elected to the New Republic Senate as the representative of Kuat, utilizing her family's wealth for funds. Shesh's inexperience as a senator, rather than being viewed as a weakness, was taken up by the media as a sign that the Kuati woman was a new breed of politician who could breathe life into the New Republic's political system. Prominent at Shesh's side was Staff Chief Victor Pomt, who aided the senator in day to day life as her aide, keeping track of her schedule and helping to arrange her political appointments.Making a Full Recovery By 23 ABY, four years after Shesh entered galactic politics, the Bothan politician Borsk Fey'lya had won the election to the position of Chief of State, replacing the Human Han Solo. Two years later, Shesh had manipulated the media into portraying her as a fair-minded, just and caring woman, largely due to her encouragement of broad coverage of her efforts on the behalf of refugees. Countless new stories arose of which Shesh was the subject,The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial mostly concerning her economic patronage of impoverished worlds and her concern for the less fortunate citizens of the galaxy.The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse Along with a seat on the Security and Intelligence Council, Shesh was also closely tied with the running of the Coruscant Planetary Defense Force.The New Jedi Order Sourcebook The Kuati senator also had a seat on the Senate Select Committee for Refugees (SELCORE), although Shesh was not known within SELCORE circles for providing much in the way of aid. Nevertheless, the senator from Kuat was considered the rising star of the New Republic and due to the vast media attention paid to her, Shesh became almost as well known as Chief of State Fey'lya himself. For her part, Shesh remained amused that she had cultivated an image so far removed from her true desire to attain power at any cost. Personality and traits By the time she began her political career, Viqi Shesh had learned the value of manipulation in achieving her goals. With no ideals of her own and a belief in an overriding necessity to accrue power, the Kuati woman entered politics as a means to realize her desires. When her future as a powerful New Republic politician was threatened, Shesh switched sides in order to ensure that she instead became a powerful Yuuzhan Vong asset. She viewed politics, therefore, as a pragmatic means by which she could rise to prominence and power, claiming that it was a form of business and exchange. As the Yuuzhan Vong advance appeared to pose a risk to Shesh's ability to retain power even under her new masters, the senator attempted to broker deals whenever she was able, in order to prove her worth and guarantee her survival along with any position of influence. Once her use to the Yuuzhan Vong in the political arena had expired, Shesh turned to other methods, becoming a field agent and assassin for Tsavong Lah. The Kuati woman was loyal to no being other than herself and was willing to go to any means to ensure her own survival. This was proven not only by the assassination of those who were not only close to her professionally, such as Victor Pomt, but also by the lack of interest and care for the billions of lives that Shesh put at risk for her own gain. From the kidnapping of an infant to the surrendering of planets, populations, governments and star systems to the Yuuzhan Vong in exchange for the promise of power, Shesh's actions had effects ranging from the personal to the galactic. She did, however, wish to see Kuat preserved due to her personal attachment to her homeworld. Her survival instinct and desire for self-preservation was so strong that it was able to override even the Force-induced despair and rage projected by Irek Ismaren. The pursuance of power dominated Viqi Shesh's life; once all power was lost to her, she fell into despair and misery. When death was imminent, the Kuati woman preferred to commit suicide, remaining resolute in her convictions that only she had the power to end her own life. Viqi Shesh was a deceptive woman, a fact that few ascertained during her time in office. She deliberately encouraged the media and the public in their beliefs that she was a philanthropist and an idealist by supporting various charitable causes in which she had no real interest. Through carefully staged mannerisms, Shesh was able to project the image of a caring woman interested in bettering the state of affairs, utilizing this falsehood to mollify doubts and concerns. This deception was successful in beguiling the vast majority of those with whom she interacted; up against the Jedi and their ability to wield the Force, however, Shesh's true motives became more apparent. The Kuati woman recognized this when she went after Ben Skywalker; aware that she would have to reinforce her acting ability and disguise as "Welda" in order to fool the Solos, Shesh made use of Dab Hantaq, presenting the young boy as a doppelgänger of Anakin Solo. The Kuati woman's faith in her talents of manipulation and deception were such that she felt she was misleading even her Yuuzhan Vong masters into granting her power and influence whereas Shesh was, in fact, a tool of Tsavong Lah and Nom Anor throughout her time as a collaborator and was scarcely trusted as an informant. Shesh was able to manipulate Lah's fears on Domain Dal and encourage the warmaster to spare her life but by this time the former senator was little more than a captive Yuuzhan Vong servant. Each lie only kept Shesh alive for a little while longer once her position of power and comfort had been lost. Alongside Shesh's arts of deception and manipulation lay her cunning. Utilizing convoluted methods to approach the Yuuzhan Vong, the Kuati senator sent out tentative feelers to the invading species before committing herself fully and did so only once she was absolutely certain that "Pedric Cuf" was a Yuuzhan Vong agent. With regards to the New Republic Defense Force's deception of the Advisory Council and her brief alliance with Commodore Brand, Shesh purported to be operating in collusion with the military while she in fact utilized the situation to her advantage and approached the Yahk-Tosh via Golga Besadii Fir. The senator ensured that she kept a distance between herself and the evidence of her collaboration, making use of various front businesses and bank accounts and entrusting Victor Pomt and a coterie of assassins with the groundwork. Shesh attempted to retain some control over the process of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, such as when she withheld the information of Centerpoint Station's continued deactivation in order to slow Warmaster Lah's advance upon the Core Worlds. She attempted to bring the weight of the New Republic government against the New Jedi Order and utilized all means possible to split the Senate and capitalize on anti-Jedi sentiment, making use of her talent for oratory and rhetoric to achieve her goals. Shesh grew frustrated, fearful and despairing when matters failed to proceed as she intended, but prided herself on her ability to outmaneuver her allies and opponents in order to ensure her survival. As events progressed beyond her control and the senator found herself immersed in subterfuge and assassination, Shesh nevertheless brought her intellect to bear in situations that were foreign to her, engineering two elaborate plans to kidnap Owen and Mason Skywalker. Shesh was also a woman who delighted in luxury and fine living, having been born into a royal Kuati family and subsequently grown up in high society. This led to a materialistic streak—Shesh enjoyed decorating her workplace and apartment with antiques and plush furnishings and was often seen in high quality garments. Shesh similarly ensured that she was seen to travel in style, possessing a sleek yacht, the Wicked Pleasure, of which she made use during the Battle of Coruscant. She comported herself with pride and dignity, aware that she was naturally beautiful in terms of Human standards and was also flirtatious at times, such as when she dealt with the mercenary Reck Desh. Even at her nadir, during her desperate flight across Coruscant, Shesh attempt to retain the dignity of her Kuati descent. Her pride also extended to a sense of superiority, as well as a vengeful streak which manifested itself when she felt wronged, such as when she took delight in abducting the Skywalker twins in retaliation for his father's opposition toward her in the New Republic Senate. Shesh also had a taste for attractive young males, whom she often treated as her playthings. She disliked interacting with "inferior" males due to her upbringing in Kuati society. The politician's real attraction was toward beings of power. When faced even with members of other species, such as the Bothan Borsk Fey'lya or the heavily scarred Yuuzhan Vong warmaster, Shesh found herself attracted to them due to the power they wielded, a characteristic that caused the Kuati woman some secret shame. Despite a youth spent in luxury and spending much of her adult life as a political figure, Shesh was not above combat and feats of physical exertion; she fled the deranged Irek Ismaren, vanishing into the Coruscant underworld and was also able to best a Noghri, traditionally recognized as skilled fighters, with a vibroblade. Appearances *''The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide I: Onslaught'' *''The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial'' *''The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse'' *''The New Jedi Order: Balance Point'' *''The New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory I: Conquest'' *''The New Jedi Order: Recovery'' *''Star Wars: Attack of the Creepy Ex'' *''The New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory II: Rebirth'' *''The New Jedi Order: Star by Star'' *''The New Jedi Order: Dark Journey'' *''The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream'' *''The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand'' *''The New Jedi Order: Destiny's Way'' *''The New Jedi Order: Ylesia'' *''The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force'' *''Fate of the Jedi: Outcast'' *''Fate of the Jedi: Allies'' Notes and references Category:Females Category:Humans Category:Kuati Category:New Republic Senators Category:Yuuzhan Vong collaborators